Details

CPU Clock Rate

3.4GHz

GPU Core Clock Rate

1.05Ghz

GPU Effective Memory Clock Rate

6.01Ghz

Description

Hi guys!

This was my first build and to add to it I had to do it on a mini ITX case and board. Thank goodness I did plenty of research and watched enough videos on Youtube to figure it out. These parts were specifically chosen in terms of cost-effectiveness vs. performance. All the prices you see are correct and the reasons why I bought them were because at the time they were a steal. The only issues I ran into was my RAM was never shipped and I had to buy a new pair.

I chose this CPU because I found the MoBos for the new generation are not that various and those that are present were either too expensive/not enough reviews. But i have had NO complaints with this board and it does it's job very well. The only issue was that it only came with one port for a case fan and with this case I needed two. No problem I went to my local TigerDirect.com store and bought a splitter for $3.

The 660 was perfectly in my price range and though I could have had an AMD with 3GB I opted not to solely because I've always played on Nvidia cards and they had NEVER failed on my before. No offense to those AMD lovers but it just is not my preference at this time.

I stole that PSU and Monitor LOL! (not really but I got really lucky on Amazon.com and Newegg.com)

The case: A WARNING about this case: it is a GREAT little case however you have to be prepared for the little room you have to work with and cable manage! I was able (with the help of my buddy) to stuff, tiewrap, velcro, etc. the cables on one side as much as I could to allow enough airflow throughout the case. YOU NEED A MODULAR POWER SUPPLY NO EXCUSES. Believe me it would not have been possible without one. There are a few funky little things like the power supply has to be screwed into a frame then into the case so you have to plug cables into the PSU first before you plug them into your parts. Also with this case and PSU i had to SQUEEZE that PSU in because the thick cables started blocking passage into the back of it's compartment. No problems though.

Lastly some of you are wondering what that cart is that the Computer is sitting on top of. I share the office with my Parents until I head to law school so they requested that the computer be able to be rolled in and out so that when they clean the office they can move it easily.

Thank you all for looking at my build! I named it Osceola because I went to FSU (go Noles!) If you have any questions do not hesitate to let me know!

EDIT: Most of the parts seem strangely paired because they will be REUSED in my next RIG! See the comments for some of my explanations!

oh i realized that when i bought the mobo and cpu I knew that withing maybe 2-3 years i'll be upgrading the case so I can put a closed loop water cooler in there. So I would be getting a new mobo as well. Most of these parts were bought with the mentality that they will be reused in my next build which would explain THAT particular anomaly. In my NEXT rig I will be OC'ing so I wanted the unlocked CPU to use in the next one.

older gen CPU was bought because Haswell chips have very bad tendency to get really hot and I did not have the means to cool it down with an after-market cooler because the case did not have room for it. Secondly the older gen GPU was bought because I wanted the SSD and I sacrificed the new model for that. Now, with that in mind, I will also comment that the 660 runs all the games that I play and will play in the future on ultra settings quite perfectly (40+fps) sooooo for MY specific needs this works.

And the case fits an H100i in the roof or an H80i/H90 on the rear perfectly. Basically any 240mm AIO in the roof or 120mm/140mm on the rear. For heatsinks it fits push-pull single-towers like many from Phanteks, Thermaltake, Noctua, and Cooler Master.

Did you want a big honkin' dual-tower heatsink? Those are a no-go for small builds, and it's part of the reason why AIO's exist in the first place.

I don't think the overall performance of the build would really benefit that much from a 760 as it would an SSD. At least after using an SSD I would have done the same thing. He can always upgrade the card later on, I would assume getting an SSD after you already settled with your build would be really time consuming. I mean with having to re-install the OS onto the SSD seems annoying but I don't know since I never did it like that.

I'd have done it the same way. I'd think the SSD gains you more performance per game than the different between a 660 and 760. On the flip side, OS installation is practically a no-brainer these days. It is really easy. More fire and forget than in previous years.

On top of that, choosing the 3570K and not having to worry about delidding the 4670K in his next build when he overclocks just makes smart price to long-term performance sense.

All-in-all, I think he made some good decisions based on his current and n+1 builds.

oh i realized that when i bought the mobo and cpu I knew that withing maybe 2-3 years i'll be upgrading the case so I can put a closed loop water cooler in there. So I would be getting a new mobo as well. Most of these parts were bought with the mentality that they will be reused in my next build which would explain THAT particular anomaly. In my NEXT rig I will be OC'ing so I wanted the unlocked CPU to use in the next one

He responded with that to my question about it haha, figured I'd paste it to you

Also, looks like you strategized very well when building for performance now + plenty of parts to use when upgrading. The only quibble I might have would be not to spend so much on a case that looks nice now if you're going to have to toss it for the next build. If you do it right cases can last 3 builds or more.

oh trust me I wanted a nice corsair 600t case at first however I share the office with my parents and the only way they said I could put a computer in there is if it fit under the desk where I only had 16" of depth to work with T.T

The Bitfenix prodigy is a really nice case. You could use it to build awesome gaming machines for years to come as long as you like mini-itx and use one video card, which is a common preference. Just make sure your components and cables are secured. Your blurb about requiring a modular PSU is nonsense, no offense. The manufacturers actually recommends using a non-modular psu. That said, if you successfully use a modular psu then that's awesome.

Motherboard / CPU choice: In a couple years you will be able to pick up a overclockable mini-itx motherboard for $5.00 (dirt cheap) and you will be underwhelmed by the effect of overclocking on system performance for this chipset. But overclocking will be fun.

You basically get an A all the way around except for the video card, which you get a B. Videocard score drops over all grade to B. As with other opinions, I think a GTX 760 would bring you up to an A.

The manufacturer may recommend whatever it wants however the truth is with this particular PSU the thickness of the cables from a non-modular PSU would have disallowed the PSU from fitting all the way into its cavity (I had trouble with the modular one) And once again the reason i got a 660 was because #1 for $150 it was a perfect fit for this build's HARD CAP of $1100. And #2 the SSD, I found, would be worth more over spending that extra $100 on a 760. In my next build I plan on upgrading only a few of the parts that way my next rig will only cost me ~$500-$700 instead of paying $1100 because most of the parts on THIS rig are very reusable.

When you build a gaming rig, you have to think in terms of bottlenecks. Bottlenecks are the components in your system that actually limit performance. These days, the cpu and the motherboard are not usually bottleneck components if you have a CPU that is at least a Intel I5. So for gamers, choosing a motherboard/cpu combination is really only a matter of finding a motherboard with high quality electronic components and choosing an I5 CPU. You did that. The GPU and the hard drive are the components that affect system performance for gaming the most. That said, SSD caching of hard drives is highly affective so you are doing better than those with just a fast hard drive.

The bottom line is that the only components that you can upgrade (in your rig) that will actually significantly affect your gaming experience is your GPU or upgrading the SSD so that you don't use a hard drive at all. You built a really good rig.